Managing Direct Admissions For 2025

Holistic admissions has long been celebrated for its ability to look beyond test scores and transcripts, valuing the whole student during the application review process. But what if its true power extends beyond the decision? What if holistic admissions isn’t just about evaluating students but about engaging them post-decision to maximize yield?

For too long, the acceptance letter has marked the end of holistic admissions thinking. Once students are admitted, institutions often default to generic, one-size-fits-all outreach strategies that fail to reflect the nuance of each student’s journey. This approach not only wastes valuable counselor time but also risks losing high-potential students who might have enrolled with the right engagement.

To transform yield management, holistic admissions must evolve. The same principles used to evaluate students—understanding their stories, interests, and needs—should guide how we engage them after the decision. By decoding the behavioral signals students send post-admission, institutions can make every interaction meaningful and strategic.

Machine learning plays a critical role here. By analyzing patterns like event attendance, portal logins, and response rates, it identifies which students are actively deciding and which need intervention. These insights allow admissions teams to prioritize their efforts where they matter most, focusing on students who are most likely to yield or at risk of disengaging.

This approach isn’t just practical—it’s transformational. It respects students as individuals, builds stronger connections, and ensures that every counselor’s effort drives real results. Holistic admissions shouldn’t stop with the offer; it should become the framework for how institutions engage admitted students, optimizing resources and maximizing enrollment outcomes.

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Admissions directors rarely say it outright, but here’s the truth: time is their team’s most valuable resource, and it’s slipping through their fingers.

Counselors are overwhelmed, managing thousands of applicants and admitted students while being tasked with creating personal connections. The tools they’ve relied on for decades—mass emails, blanket event invites, and “list-of-the-day” call strategies—aren’t just outdated. They’re wasteful. Too much effort is spent chasing students who won’t enroll, leaving less time for the ones who will. The result? Counselors burn out, enrollment numbers suffer, and the mission of providing a personalized experience falls flat.

Holistic admissions is often heralded as the solution, but it’s usually confined to the pre-decision phase. We use it to see the "whole student," balancing GPAs, extracurriculars, and personal stories to craft diverse and dynamic classes. But here’s the problem: once the decisions are made, holistic admissions gets tossed aside, and teams revert to one-size-fits-all strategies. This misses the bigger opportunity—to use the same principles to manage counselors’ time and attention after decisions go out.

What would it look like to extend holistic admissions into post-decision engagement? It starts with data. Every admitted student sends signals—portal logins, email clicks, event RSVPs—that reveal their level of interest and intent. Machine learning tools can analyze these signals in real time, showing which students are actively deciding, which are drifting away, and which need a nudge. Armed with these insights, admissions directors can direct their counselors to focus where their time will have the greatest impact.

This isn’t about replacing human connection with algorithms; it’s about empowering counselors to work smarter, not harder. When machine learning handles the heavy lifting of sorting through thousands of data points, counselors can focus their energy on meaningful, relationship-driven work. That means personalized calls to the students who need it most and tailored follow-ups that address real concerns—not wasted hours chasing disengaged students or following up on irrelevant metrics.

The benefits are clear. Counselors feel more effective and less overwhelmed, leading to better morale. Yield improves because the right students get the attention they need. And the institution wins by making the most of its resources without sacrificing the personal touch that makes holistic admissions so powerful.

Admissions leaders must redefine holistic admissions as more than just a tool for selecting students—it’s the framework for everything that comes after. Managing time and attention post-decision isn’t just a tactical adjustment; it’s a philosophical one. If institutions truly believe in treating students as individuals, they must embrace a smarter, data-driven approach to yield. Because when it comes to enrollment, precision isn’t optional—it’s everything.

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Colleges love to champion holistic admissions as a badge of honor. It’s a process that looks beyond GPAs and test scores to see the “whole student,” and it’s often held up as the moral high ground in the admissions landscape. But here’s the problem no one wants to talk about: once the acceptance letter is sent, holistic admissions all but vanishes.

Think about it. The same institutions that spend months dissecting every nuance of an applicant’s background suddenly treat admitted students as one-size-fits-all. Whether it’s a high-achieving student who attended every info session or someone who barely responds to emails, they’re lumped into the same yield strategy: generic emails, mass invitations to events, and endless follow-ups with little regard for the signals those students are sending.

This approach is lazy, wasteful, and hypocritical. Admissions teams claim to care deeply about individual students—until the decision is made. Then, counselors are left guessing who to prioritize while students who might otherwise enroll feel ignored or overwhelmed. It’s no wonder yield is a constant uphill battle.

Here’s the truth: holistic admissions doesn’t stop when the application process ends. It should be the foundation for post-decision engagement, where understanding individual behaviors becomes the key to guiding students toward enrollment. And this is where machine learning comes in.

By analyzing behavioral signals like portal activity, event attendance, and email responses, machine learning reveals what students won’t always say outright: who’s deciding, who’s drifting, and who needs encouragement. This isn’t just data; it’s a roadmap for prioritizing counselor time and attention. Why waste hours chasing disengaged students when technology can help you focus on those ready to commit?

Let’s stop pretending holistic admissions is enough if it ends at the decision letter. If we’re truly committed to seeing the whole student, we must respect the signals they send after being admitted. Anything less is just marketing dressed up as morality. Real holistic admissions doesn’t stop at “you're in”—it continues all the way to enrollment.

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